2 Comments:

I don't remember Aaro's famous prediction, can you remind us? I recall a few days ago he had a go at fellow journalists for the 'conceits of my profession' in their failure to forecast things', so I presume it was an uncannily accurate prediction, but one that was made modestly and without bombast.

"If nothing is eventually found, I - as a supporter of the war - will never believe another thing that I am told by our government, or that of the US ever again. And, more to the point, neither will anyone else. Those weapons had better be there somewhere."

That paragraph never gets boring, of course, but in a less-quoted extract he even repeats the 'money shot':

"Right now, over in Beijing, the entire population, apparently, is sitting indoors, terrified to come out. The government's attempt to re-assure them that Sars is not about to kill them all, has been met by a cynicism, which derives from earlier lies about the scale of the epidemic. At this moment, when the authorities are telling the truth and need the people to trust them, no one does. So I repeat, those weapons had better be there."